Chris Gautz is a communications strategist at Byrum & Fisk. He is an award-winning reporter, editor, podcaster and communications professional.

For nine years he served as the head of communications for the Michigan Department of Corrections, where he took part in thousands of newspaper, radio and television interviews.He and his team won numerous awards for their internal and external communication efforts.

Prior to that, he worked as a newspaper reporter in Michigan and Indiana for more than a decade with stints at The Daily Telegram, The South Bend Tribune, The Jackson Citizen Patriot,Gongwer News Service and Crain’s Detroit Business. Over the years he won multiple awards for feature writing, investigative reporting and his news coverage.

In college he served as editor in chief of Central Michigan Life, the campus newspaper of Central Michigan University, which was named the best college paper in the state thatyear. In 2009, he was honored as the Young Journalist of the Year by the CMU Journalism Department.

He currently serves as a member of the CMU Alumni Association Board of Directors and is a past president of the CMU Student Media Advisory Board.

Chris lives in Adrian, Michigan with his wife and three children.